Snare of Serpents by Victoria Holt

getting on. Perhaps we shall be able to meet one day.
    All happiness to you and my love,
    LlLIAS
    I wrote back.
    Dear Lilias,
    Thank you for your letter which I was delighted to receive. I think of you a great deal. I am going to try and find out who did that terrible thing. You know where my suspicions are, but I can’t think of a reason.
    I loathe him. He has been brought in by my new governess to partner me. I am learning dancing and need a partner. There isn’t anyone else, Miss Grey says. I could enjoy dancing lessons but for that.
    Miss Grey is the new governess. She came very soon after you left. It is hard to describe her because she is more than one person. She is beautiful in a way that makes people look at her. She has reddish hair and green eyes. My father seems to approve of her. That surprised me because we don’t do lessons in the ordinary way. She tells me what to wear … how I should walk … and, of course, I am learning to dance. I think it is a sort of preparation for launching me into society. I’m getting old, I suppose.
    Oh, Lilias, how I miss you! I wish you could come back.
    My love as ever,
    D AVINA
    M ISS G REY said I was not to wear black anymore.
    “It doesn’t become your colouring, Davina,” she said. “You are too dark. Dark hair and blue eyes … an attractive combination, but not for black. I can wear it, though it is not my favourite colour. It’s too sombre. I’m fair skinned, you see. There is hardly any skin fairer than redheads. So I can get away with black … but it is not for you.”
    “Mrs. Kirkwell said I should wear it for a year.” She held up her hands in mock horror. “But I say no black … and no black there shall be.”
    I was not displeased. I hated the black clothes. I did not need them to remind me of my mother.
    Of course, the Kirkwells were very shocked, but my father raised no objection.
    I discovered that Miss Grey was very interested in the family. She wanted to hear about my mother and all the relations I had. There was little family except Aunt Roberta, I told her. I found myself talking quite frankly, for she had a way of drawing me out. I was soon telling her how Aunt Roberta had descended upon us after my mother’s death and how she had discovered Hamish and Kitty together in one of the bedrooms. I thought that might make her realise that Hamish was not a fit person to be my dancing partner.
    She was thoughtful. “The young devil,” she said at length.
    “Yes. It was very shocking. Aunt Roberta and I were together at the time. She opened the door … and there they were.”
    “Caught in the act! And you a witness. Oh, Davina, what a sight for you!” She laughed and went on laughing, the greedy mouth open, the green eyes full of tears, so great was her mirth. “And little Kitty was given her marching orders, eh? ‘Don’t darken these doors again.’ “
    “It was not very funny for Kitty.”
    “No. I suppose not.”
    “Lilias … Miss Milne … has a father who is a vicar. He took Kitty in.”
    “God’s good man, eh?”
    “He was good to Kitty. He found her a post in a house near him.”
    “Let’s hope there aren’t any good-looking young men around like Hamish.”
    “Do you call him good-looking?”
    “He’s got something. There’s no doubt about that. I don’t suppose Kitty was the only one who couldn’t say no.”
    I did not want to talk about Hamish. I felt I should say too much and that I suspected him of stealing the necklace and putting it in Lilias’ drawer. I must not tell anyone of my suspicions as I had no proof.
    She asked a lot of questions about what had happened when my mother was alive. I told her how we used to go shopping and visiting friends.
    “It was not so long ago,” she said.
    I discovered that she kept a flask of brandy in her room. It was in a cupboard which she kept locked. She let me into the secret once. She had been out to luncheon on that day. I did not know with whom, but she did now and then